Something special happened at Judah this past year. From the surge in student speakers at chapel, to the unfortunate death of our beloved Bible teacher and athletic director Mr. Miller, to the long-anticipated return to Puerto Rico for a mission-oriented senior trip, Judah had what can only be called an out-of-the-ordinary year.
Just look at the extraordinary effect that these events had on the student body. Many students came to faith, and an evangelical atmosphere filled the halls for the first time in years. A revival took place at Judah Christian School. Mr. Neethling encapsulated this feeling in his graduation speech, as he sent off the class of 2024 with one final piece of advice. Here is what he said:
It is tempting, on days like today, to deliver a neatly packaged bundle of cliches. “Look at how far you have come!” “Each and every one of you is a winner.” “When I think of my heroes, I think of all of you.” “The world is your oyster.” “Spread your wings and fly!” Now, with all that out of the way, let’s chat.
Yes, I love every one of you, and yes, it is no secret that we have bonded this year. It is true that I am deeply proud of you. It is no secret that we have had a lot of fun, spending countless lunches, prep periods, and time after school to talk, pray, laugh, sometimes cry, and simply enjoy relationship with one another. So naturally, we should talk about ourselves, our time, our achievements, our life to come after this grand moment, right?
Well, it is also no secret what the Lord Jesus has done in our school this year. And ultimately, He is my favorite person to talk about. So let’s talk about Him.
Students have been giving their lives to Christ in droves this year. As Grant Ipsen said, “Dude! Everyone is coming to Jesus!” Honestly, my fellow teachers and I have lost count, and what a glorious thing that is. However, we just may have a few misconceptions we are carrying with us into this wonderful moment today. In order to send you into the great unknown as honestly as possible, let us take some time to clear things up.
Graduation is a moment. Life in Jesus? Maybe not so much. It is just as easy to think that our salvation in Jesus is simply a moment, much like graduating. We think, “Oh! I’ve made it. I am all good now.” With graduation, however, we know that’s not true. So why do we think the same of our life with Jesus? We know that graduation is not a moment that states we are “all done,” rather, simply a moment that declares, “Yes, congratulations, but now the real work begins.”
The same principle is true of our walk with Jesus.
Truly, many students have given their lives to Jesus, including many of you on this stage. Many have “confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in their heart that God raised Him from the dead,” as Romans 10:9 says. Yes, in that moment, we are saved from death and hell, and that is a glorious reality. Heaven indeed rejoices over the repentance of one sinner. Yes, you have made it to this, and in this moment, we celebrate. But like we said before, “now the real work begins.”
There is far more language in scripture calling for endurance in our walk with Jesus than there is about some moment where “we are all good now.” Jesus said this to His disciples in Luke 11:5-13: “Suppose a friend comes to your house and asks you for bread, but you tell him to go away because your family is sleeping and the day is done. Even though you wouldn’t get up at first, due to his persistence you eventually will.” And hear this: “So I say to you, keep asking and it will be given to you. Keep searching and you will find. Keep knocking and the door will be opened to you. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Keep asking, keep searching, keep knocking.
Endurance. If there is one thing that I pray over you and hope you find deep within yourself, it is endurance. Above book knowledge, above college majors, above money, above career, above any expectation for the future, I pray for endurance over you. Those of you graduating, those of you witnessing this moment, those of you who are in Jesus, those of you who do not know Him, I pray you would endure.
If you are walking with Jesus today, I pray you would remember what the angel told Joseph in Matthew 1:21: “She will give birth to a Son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” Our destiny being changed, the debt we owe the Lord for our sin being erased — these things are a glorious moment. However, we are still entrenched in the war against our sin. Our present walk with Jesus is a continual salvation from the desire to sin. This requires endurance! And an endurance that is exclusively given to those who will keep asking for the Holy Spirit’s filling.
If you are not yet walking with Jesus today, I pray you would remember what the Lord told His people in Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” This is a promise! Our heavenly Father does not break His promises. Endure in the process of searching for the Lord. With all sincerity and with all effort, endure in your searching for Him, and I promise you — rather, He promises you — that you will find Him!
Plans are going to go awry; expectations are going to be shattered; dreams are going to be altered; earthly pursuits will all come to an end eventually. So endure in the truth spoken by Jesus in John 15: “As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love.”
Those who choose to endure and remain will inherit a far greater reward than a graduation platitude. As the last book of the Bible declares, “And He said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to the thirsty from the spring of living water as a gift. The victor will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.’”
So when you leave this room today to begin the rest of your story, remember the promises given to those who endure! And how do we endure? Let us come full circle. When it is stated, “Look at how far you’ve come,” you declare, “Look where Jesus has brought me!” When you are told, “Each of you is a winner,” you proclaim, “Without Jesus there is no victory!” When someone calls you “their hero,” you introduce them to the God-Man who heroically conquered death itself. When they say the “world is your oyster,” you retort, “No, Jesus is my portion.” And finally, when you are instructed to “spread your wings and fly,” you remember “that those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.”
Endure.
As Mr. Neethling said, all too often graduation day is time spent talking about the students and their accomplishments, rather than time spent talking about Jesus and His accomplishments. But, in keeping true to the theme of the year, and especially to Jesus, Mr. Neethling’s speech focused on Jesus and what He is doing in and through the students of Judah Christian School.
Mr. Neethling reflected Jesus’s own words in Luke 21:19 for us to endure in Him. Jesus said that His followers would face challenges and tough times, but that “by your endurance you will gain your lives.” So farewell and endure, class of 2024. Jesus is more than able to sustain you — and all of us at Judah Christian School — through whatever comes next.
—Zach Schaefer, class of ’25
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